US Virtual Asset Industry Strives to Secure Capital… "Partnerships with Wall Street Expected to Increase This Year"

The relationship between the virtual asset (cryptocurrency) industry and traditional finance is becoming more intimate.

On the 27th (local time), the Wall Street Journal reported that the US virtual asset industry is seeking to raise capital through traditional finance, bolstered by Donald Trump's pro-virtual asset stance.

Last week, a new company that strategically hoards Bitcoin (BTC) was established in the United States. It is '21Capital', a joint venture of Japan's SoftBank, the world's largest stablecoin (a virtual asset linked to the value of legal currency) company Tether, and Cantor Fitzgerald. The launch scale amounts to about 4 billion dollars. They are expected to use this capital to buy and hoard Bitcoin.

It's not just 21Capital. Earlier this month, Ripple, the issuer of XRP, agreed to acquire prime broker Hidden Road for 1.25 billion dollars. At the time, Ripple's move was evaluated as "an effort to increase institutional investors' share of virtual asset investments."

Ryne Miller, head of the crypto division at Lowenstein Sandler, predicted, "There could be more partnerships between traditional financial companies and virtual assets this year," and "M&A activities in the virtual asset industry will also increase this year."

Eric Risley, founder of Architect Partners, explained, "There seems to be optimism that the situation in the industry has finally changed," and "Large existing virtual asset companies have now turned towards a growth-oriented direction and are seeking acquisition opportunities."